Live | Dare [& Morpheus] – South of Heaven – Bilzen [BE]

24 May 2024

April 4th 1989 was the first time I saw Dare live on stage. They toured across Europe as support act for Europe, promoting their debut album ‘Out of the Silence’. Just as every teenager at the age of 19 I was completely blown away by impressive performances of both bands. Europe was touring to promote their 4th album ‘Out of this World’

MORPHEUS – THE SUPPORTACT

Dare was formed in the mid 80s and fronted by former Thin Lizzy keyboard player Darren Wharton, after Phil Lynott had dissolved Thin Lizzy. He joined forces with guitarist Vinny Burns and signed a deal with A&M Records. Vinny left the band after the second album ‘Blood from Stone’ to play with Asia and later with Gary Hughes’ Ten. In the meantime, Darren had recorded and released a number of albums. 

Today, after 5 years, Dare returned to Belgian grounds at South of Heaven in Bilzen. Before the boys from Oldham took the stage, Morpheus from Antwerp had the duty to warm up the fans, who attended the show. Unfortunately, the band, fronted by beautiful singer Nina Hermans, struggled with a terrible sound. The crowd responded poor during the 45 minutes set starting with their latest single ,,Magnetic”. Nina’s voice, as it sounded very good on Spotify, was not that powerful. Especially her high notes faded away in that wall of guitars and drums. The band didn’t seem to care and had much fun on stage. 

DARE – THE HEADLINER

After a change-over of almost one hour, the mighty Dare started with ,,Born in the Storm’’ followed by ,,Cradle to the Grave’’ from their latest album ‘Road to Eden’. Despite Darren and his companions were complaining about the monitor sound on stage during the first couple of songs, they acted as real pros and treated the audience with a best of set from their last three releases including 5 songs from ‘Out Of The Silence II’ and some old tunes from their second album ‘Blood From Stone’ and ‘Beneath The Shining Water’. The sound was good, the harmonies perfect, the guys had fun on stage, the crowd enthusiastic, so it was a beautiful Friday night.

Darren will hit the road again very soon with his Renegade project and his bandmates Vinny, Nigel (Clutterbuck) on bass and Greg (Morgan) on drums. Playing a set of Thin Lizzy songs. Only show so far outside the UK is on June the 22nd at the ‘Arrow Rock Festival’ in Roosendaal Netherlands. In the meantime, Dare is working on songs for a new record and re-recordings for ‘Blood From Stone’.

Photos by Franky Bruyneel